Vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A vacuum cleaner which is hygienically usable. The vacuum cleaner includes a main body forming the external appearance thereof, a blowing fan for generating a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body, and a nano particle generator for generating nano particles and dispersing the generated nano particles into the air sucked thereinto. Since the foreign substances accumulated in a main body of the vacuum cleaner or the air discharged to the outside are sterilized by means of the sterilizing power of the nano particles generated from the nano particle generator, the vacuum cleaner is hygienically usable.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-10690, filed Feb. 4, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, to a vacuum cleaner which is hygienically usable.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a vacuum cleaner is an apparatus, which sucks air containing foreign substances, such as dust, using suction force generated from a driving motor and a blowing fan installed therein, collects dust from the air, and then discharges the purified air to the outside.

Korean Patent Application No. 10-1996-18278 discloses a conventional vacuum cleaner. The conventional vacuum cleaner includes a main body forming the external appearance of the vacuum cleaner having a driving motor and a blowing fan installed therein for generating suction force, a brush head for separating dust from the surface of a place to be cleaned, an extension pipe, one end of which is installed on the brush head, including a hand grip, and a connection hose for connecting the other end of the extension pipe and the main body.

Foreign substances, such as dust collected by cleaning, are accumulated in the main body of the vacuum cleaner. When the amount of the foreign substances accumulated in the main body exceeds a designated degree, a cleaning capacity of the vacuum cleaner is deteriorated. Accordingly, a user must periodically clean the inside of the main body to eliminate the foreign substances accumulated therein, thereby being capable of hygienically using the vacuum cleaner.

Some users leave the vacuum cleaner for a long time without cleaning the main body of the vacuum cleaner so that a considerable amount of foreign substances are accumulated in the main body. When the main body of the vacuum cleaner is not cleaned under the condition that the foreign substances are accumulated in the main body, microorganisms or bacteria, which are sucked into the main body together with dust, propagate in the vacuum cleaner, thereby causing the vacuum cleaner not to be hygienically usable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a vacuum cleaner, which is hygienically usable.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a vacuum cleaner including a main body forming the external appearance thereof, a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body, and a nano particle generator to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air sucked thereinto.

The vacuum cleaner further includes a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances contained in the air flowing by the blowing fan.

The dust collector includes a foreign substance filter installed in a channel of the air blown by the blowing fan to filter out the foreign substances from the air passing therethrough.

The nano particle generator is positioned in the main body such that the nano particle generator is communicated with an outlet and an inlet of the foreign substance filter, and a subsidiary blowing fan is provided in the main body to cause the air to flow from the outlet of the foreign substance filter to the inlet of the foreign substance filter through the nano particle generator.

A brush head contacting the surface of a place to be cleaned, an extension pipe connected with the brush head, and a connection hose made of an elastically deformable material to connect the extension pipe and the main body is connected to the main body, and the nano particle generator is installed in the extension pipe to disperse the nano particle into air passing through the extension pipe.

A damper is provided at the end of the connection hose to close one end of the connection hose close to the main body when it is necessary to sterilize the inside of the main body under the condition that the inside of the main body is not cleaned.

The dust collector includes a cyclone chamber, an upper portion of which includes a cylindrical shape and a lower portion of which includes a conical shape, a suction pipe connected with the cyclone chamber in the tangential direction, and a discharge pipe positioned in a central part of the cyclone chamber in an axial direction.

The nano particle generator is positioned in the discharge pipe to disperse the nano particles into air discharged to the outside through the discharge pipe.

Alternately, the nano particle generator is positioned in the suction pipe to disperse the nano particles onto air supplied to the cyclone chamber through the suction pipe.

The nano particle generator includes a material-receiving portion having a concave shape to receive a material used to generate the nano particles, and a heater positioned in the material-receiving portion, such that the heater contacts with the material received by the material-receiving portion, to generate heat to heat the material.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a vacuum cleaner including a main body forming the external appearance thereof, a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body, a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances contained in the air flowing by the blowing fan, and a nano particle generator positioned at an inlet of the dust collector to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air introduced into the dust collector.

It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a vacuum cleaner including a main body forming the external appearance thereof, a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body, a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances contained in the air flowing by the blowing fan, and a nano particle generator positioned at an outlet of the dust collector to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air discharged from the dust collector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a dust collector of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a nano particle generator applied to the vacuum cleaner of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a dust collector of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a dust collector of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

Hereinafter, a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The vacuum cleaner in accordance with the first embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a main body 10 forming the external appearance of the vacuum cleaner, a brush head 11 contacting a surface of a place to be cleaned for sucking foreign substances, such as dust, together with air, a hand grip 12 connected with the brush head 11 by an extension pipe 13 having a designated length for allowing a user in a standing state to move the brush head 11, and a connection hose 14 for connecting the hand grip 12 and the main body 10.

The main body 10 comprises a dust collector 20 installed therein for filtering out the foreign substances. As shown in FIG. 2, the dust collector 20 of the main body 10 of the vacuum cleaner of this embodiment comprises a foreign substance filter 21 detachably connected with the connection hose 14 for filtering out the foreign substances from the air introduced into the main body 10 through the connection hose 14, and a blowing fan 30 rotated by a driving motor 31 generating rotary force for discharging the air to the outside after the air including the foreign substances is sucked into the dust collector and then the foreign substances are filtered out. An outlet 10 a, through which the air from which the foreign substances are filtered out is discharged to the outside, is formed through a rear portion of the main body 10. In this embodiment, the foreign substance filter 21 is a dust filtering sack having the shape of a sack. However, the shape of the foreign substance filter 21 is not limited thereto, and may vary as necessary.

The brush head 11 comprises an inlet (not shown), formed through the lower surface thereof, which contacts the surface of a place, to be cleaned, so as to initially suck dust accumulated on the surface, and a brush (not shown) having an approximately rectangular shape and formed on the lower surface thereof, for separating dust from the surface to be cleaned.

The hand grip 12 allows the user in the standing state to easily move the brush head 20, and comprises an operating unit 16 having a plurality of operating buttons for selecting modes of the vacuum cleaner.

The connection hose 14 allows the user to move the brush head 11 and the extension pipe 13 through the hand grip 12 without moving the main body 10 in a designated range from the position of the main body 10, thereby allowing the user to change the place to be cleaned. The connection hose 14 is a pipe made of a material which is elastically deformable, such as plastic.

When the blowing fan 30 is rotated by the driving motor 31 to generate a suction force, external air is sucked through the brush head 11, sequentially passes through the extension pipe 13 and the connection hose 14, and is sucked into the main body 10. Thereafter, most of foreign substances are filtered out from the air through the foreign substance filter 21, and then the purified air is discharged to an outside through the outlet 10 a. Thereby, the vacuum cleaner of the present invention collects the foreign substances, such as dust, from the external air, thus performing a cleaning operation.

In order to sterilize dust accumulated in the main body 10 for preventing bacteria from propagating in the main body 10, the vacuum cleaner of the present invention further comprises a nano particle generator 40 for generating nano particles of gold or silver having sterilizing power.

The nano particle generator 40 serves to generate nano particles by evaporating a material (M), such as gold or solver, by a heating process. In this embodiment, the nano particle generator 40, as shown in FIG. 3, comprises a material-receiving portion 41 having a concave shape to receive the material (M) for generating the nano particles, and a heater 42 positioned in the material-receiving portion 41 such that the heater 42 contacts the material (M) and is provided with an electrical heating wire 42 a wound therein for directly heating the material (M). Accordingly, when power is applied to the heater 42 under the condition that the material-receiving portion 41 contains the material (M) contacting the heater 42, components of the material (M) are evaporated from the surface of the material (M) by the heat generated from the heater 42, thereby generating nano particles.

The nano particle generator 40 is communicated with an outlet and an inlet of the foreign substance filter 21, and a subsidiary blowing fan 43 (see FIG. 2) for generating suction force and blowing force to cause the air to flow from the outlet of the foreign substance filter 21 to the inlet of the foreign substance filter 21 is installed in the communication channel between the nano particle generator 40 and the foreign substance filter 21. A part of the air, from which the foreign substances are filtered out by the foreign substance filter 21, is introduced into the nano particle generator 40, and is guided again to the inside of the foreign substance filter 21 together with the nano particles generated from the nano particle generator 40. Thereby, foreign substances, which are filtered out from the air by the foreign substance filter 21, are sterilized by the nano particles, and the sterilized air is discharged to the outside through the outlet 10 a.

The vacuum cleaner of the present invention further comprises a damper 15 installed at an end of the connection hose 14 to close the end of the connection hose 14 when it is necessary to sterilize the inside of the main body 10 when the main body 10 is not cleaned. Accordingly, when the subsidiary blowing fan 43 is operated, the air in the main body 10 is introduced from the outlet of the foreign substance filter 21 to the nano particle generator 40 by the subsidiary blowing fan 43, and is supplied again to the foreign substance filter 21 together with the nano particles generated from the nano particle generator 40 so that the foreign substances filtered out by the foreign substance filter 21 is sterilized by the nano particles.

Although this embodiment describes the nano particle generator 40 installed in the main body 10, the position of the nano particle generator 40 is not limited thereto. As described in conjunction with a second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, the nano particle generator 40 may be installed in the extension pipe 13 so that nano particles generated from the nano particle generator 40 are dispersed into air sucked into the main body 10 through the extension pipe 13.

Hereinafter, a vacuum cleaner in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The vacuum cleaner in accordance with this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, comprises a cyclone-type dust collector 50 to collect foreign substances, such as dust. The cyclone-type dust collector 50 comprises a cyclone chamber 51, an upper portion thereof comprises a cylindrical shape and a lower portion thereof comprises a conical shape, a suction pipe 52 connected with the upper portion of the cyclone chamber 51 in a tangential direction to suck air in the tangential direction, and a discharge pipe 53 longitudinally inserted into a central part of the upper portion of the cyclone chamber 51 to guide the discharged air. The cyclone-type dust collector 50 further comprises a blowing fan 54 to generate a suction force and a blowing force to discharge air to an inside of the cyclone chamber 51 through the suction pipe 52.

Accordingly, the air discharged to the inside of the cyclone chamber 51 by the blowing fan 54, flows spirally along an inner surface of the cyclone chamber 51 and moves downwardly to reach the lower portion of the cyclone chamber 51 having the conical shape. After the air reaches the lower portion of the cyclone chamber 51, the air turns its flowing direction and flows in an axial direction of the cyclone chamber 51, and is then discharged to the outside through the discharge pipe 53 positioned at a central part of the upper portion of the cyclone chamber 51. Here, since a relatively high centrifugal force is applied to the foreign substances, such as dust, which are heavier than air, the foreign substances move outwardly in a radial direction by the centrifugal force, are separated from the air, collide with the inner wall of the cyclone chamber 51, and are then dropped down. Thereby, the foreign substances, such as dust, are separated from air, and are accumulated in the portion of the cyclone chamber 51.

The vacuum cleaner of the present invention further comprises the nano particle generator 40 to generate nano particles of gold or silver having sterilizing power to sterilize the discharged air. The nano particle generator 40 of this embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, and will thus not be described.

The nano particle generator 40 of this embodiment is positioned in a central part of the discharge pipe 53 in an axial direction, and disperses nano particles into air passing through the discharge pipe 53. Accordingly, even when bacteria propagate in the foreign substances accumulated in the cyclone chamber 51, the bacteria are sterilized by the nano particles generated from the nano particle generator 40 positioned in the discharge pipe 53 when the foreign substances are discharged to the outside through the discharge pipe 53. Thereby, the sterilized air is discharged to the outside.

Although this embodiment describes the nano particle generator 40 as being installed in the central part of the discharge pipe 53, the position of the nano particle generator 40 is not limited thereto. As described in conjunction with a fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6, the nano particle generator 40 may be installed in the suction pipe 52 guiding air to the inside of the cyclone chamber 51 so that nano particles generated from the nano particle generator 40 is dispersed into air supplied to the cyclone chamber 51 to sterilize both the foreign substances accumulated in the cyclone chamber and the air discharged to the outside.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner having a nano particle generator to generate nano particles so that foreign substances accumulated in a main body of the vacuum cleaner or air discharged to the outside are sterilized by the nano particles having sterilizing power, thereby being hygienically used.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A vacuum cleaner comprising: a main body forming the external appearance thereof; a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body; and a nano particle generator to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air sucked thereinto.
 2. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances contained in the air flowing by the blowing fan.
 3. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 2, wherein the dust collector includes a foreign substance filter installed in a channel of the air blown by the blowing fan to filter out the foreign substances from the air passing therethrough.
 4. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 3, wherein: the nano particle generator is positioned in the main body such that the nano particle generator is communicated with an outlet and an inlet of the foreign substance filter; and a subsidiary blowing fan is provided in the main body to cause the air to flow from the outlet of the foreign substance filter to the inlet of the foreign substance filter through the nano particle generator.
 5. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 3, further comprising: a brush head contacting a surface of a place to be cleaned; an extension pipe connected with the brush head; and a connection hose comprising an elastically deformable material to connect the extension pipe and the main body, wherein the brush head, the extension pipe and the connection hose are connected with the main body, and the nano particle generator is installed in the extension pipe for dispersing the nano particle into air passing through the extension pipe.
 6. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a damper is provided at an end of the connection hose to close one end of the connection hose close to the main body when it is necessary to sterilize an inside of the main body when the inside of the main body is not cleaned.
 7. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 2, wherein the dust collector comprises: a cyclone chamber comprising an upper portion having a cylindrical shape and a lower portion having a conical shape; a suction pipe connected with the cyclone chamber in a tangential direction; and a discharge pipe positioned in a central part of the cyclone chamber in an axial direction.
 8. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 7, wherein the nano particle generator is positioned in the discharge pipe to disperse the nano particles into air discharged to an outside through the discharge pipe.
 9. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 7, wherein the nano particle generator is positioned in the suction pipe to disperse the nano particles into air supplied to the cyclone chamber through the suction pipe.
 10. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, wherein the nano particle generator comprises: a material-receiving portion having a concave shape to receive a material used to generate the nano particles; and a heater positioned in the material-receiving portion, such that the heater contacts the material received by the material-receiving portion, to generate heat to heat the material.
 11. A vacuum cleaner comprising: a main body forming the external appearance thereof; a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body; a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances contained in the air flowing by the blowing fan; and a nano particle generator positioned at an inlet of the dust collector to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air introduced into the dust collector.
 12. A vacuum cleaner comprising: a main body forming the external appearance thereof; a blowing fan to generate a suction force to allow external air including foreign substances to be sucked into the main body; a dust collector to filter out the foreign substances included in the air flowing by the blowing fan; and a nano particle generator positioned at an outlet of the dust collector to generate nano particles and to disperse the generated nano particles into the air discharged from the dust collector.
 13. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 8, wherein the nano particle generator is positioned in a central part of the discharge pipe in an axial direction, and disperses nano particles into air passing through the discharge pipe to sterilize the air. 